Mobile patient chairs are generally known in the art, and are used for patient transfer and transport, and, in some instances treatment and recovery, at medical facilities. They typically include a patient support structure that includes a seat section, a back rest, and a leg support section, wherein the back rest and leg support sections may be positioned relative to the seat section to provide a chair structure or stretcher structure, as needed. The support structure is generally carried on a base that rides on caster assemblies, which allow for transport of the patient chair. In these chairs, a patient can be quickly and safely moved from a sitting position to supine positions and vice versa.
Certain medical chairs in the prior art have been particularly useful in radiographic and fluoroscopic procedures wherein the patient is allowed to remain in the medical chair during such procedures. More particularly, some medical chairs are dimensioned to be received in radiographic and fluoroscopic machines (RF machines) at positions that allow a patient in the chair to be subjected to radiographic or fluoroscopic procedures. However, chairs in the prior art do not provide for manipulation of the support structure, particularly the back rest, once the medical chair is positioned in the RF machines. Thus, if it is determined that the patient is not properly oriented relative to the machine, or if the patient becomes uncomfortable, or, if for any other reason, the positioning of the support structure must be changed, the chair must be removed from its receipt in the RF machine.
Medical chairs used in conjunction with RF machines as generally disclosed above also typically include radiolucent back rests. With radiolucent back rests, radiographic or fluoroscopic procedures may be carried out to view medical conditions relating to the patient, from approximately the waist up to the top of the skull. However, the back rests of the prior art also typically provide push bars for transporting the medical chair on its caster assemblies. To preserve the radiolucent property of the back rest, these push bars are made to be removable from connection to the back rest. Because the push bar must be removed for a radiographic or fluoroscopic procedure, it presents a part that is separable from the remainder of the medical chair, and undesirably tedious to properly employ.
In some medical chairs, a foot rest portion may extend from the leg support section substantially perpendicular thereto to provide, as the name implies, a rest for the patient's feet. When the leg support section is raised to provide the medical chair with a stretcher structure, the foot rest must be folded down or else it will provide an obstruction to the patient when he or she attempts to lay down on the stretcher. In the prior art chairs, the foot rest must be manually manipulated to pivot upwardly against the leg support section in the stretcher structure, and must be manually manipulated to pivot downwardly in relation to the leg support section in the chair structure. This is another tedious and undesired exercise.
Thus there exists a need in the art for a medical chair that has a back rest that may be positioned even when the chair is placed within RF machinery. There also exists a need for a medical chair having a radiolucent back and a push bar for transporting the medical chair, wherein the push bar does not have to be removed to prevent obstruction of the radiolucent back. A need also exists for a medical chair having a foot rest portion that does not require constant tedious repositioning when the support structure of the chair is moved between a stretcher structure and a chair structure.